Biomedical subjects

Uwe M Martens

Publications and source records attributed to Uwe M Martens.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Genome-wide analysis of DNA copy number changes and LOH in CLL using high-density SNP arrays.

Recurrent genomic aberrations are important prognostic parameters in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). High-resolution 10k and 50k Affymetrix SNP arrays were evaluated as a diagnostic tool for CLL and revealed chromosomal imbalances in 65.6% and 81.5% of 70 consecutive cases, respectively. Among the prognostically important aberrations, the del13q14 was present in 36 (51.4%), trisomy 12 in 9 (12.8%), del11q22 in 9 (12.8%), and del17p13 in 4 cases (5.7%). A prominent clustering of breakpoints on both sides of the MIRN15A/MIRN16-1 genes indicated the presence of recombination hot spots in the 13q14 region. Patients with a monoallelic del13q14 had slower lymphocyte growth kinetics (P=.002) than patients with biallelic deletions. In 4 CLL cases with unmutated VH genes, a common minimal 3.5-Mb gain of 2p16 spanning the REL and BCL11A oncogenes was identified, implicating these genes in the pathogenesis of CLL. Twenty-four large (>10 Mb) copy-neutral regions with loss of heterozygosity were identified in 14 cases. These regions with loss of heterozygosity are not detectable by alternative methods and may harbor novel imprinted genes or loss-of-function alleles that may be important for the pathogenesis of CLL. Genomic profiling with SNP arrays is a convenient and efficient screening method for simultaneous genome-wide detection of chromosomal aberrations.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Imatinib mesylate as a novel treatment option for hypereosinophilic syndrome: two case reports and a comprehensive review of the literature.

Hypereosinophilic syndromes (HES) are a heterogenous group of rare disorders characterized by sustained and otherwise unexplained overproduction of eosinophils with organ involvement and consecutive dysfunction. Recent reports document the efficacy of imatinib mesylate in a large proportion of HES patients (65%). Rearrangements involving the platelet-derived growth factor receptor genes (PDGFRA and PDGFRB), both tyrosine kinase receptors, have been demonstrated to be pathogenetically linked to the dysregulated clonal overproduction of eosinophils. This refined hypothesis has been confirmed by the discovery of the novel FIP1L1-PDGFRA fusion gene, which is a gain-of-function gene on chromosome 4q12. Its product is an imatinib-sensitive tyrosine kinase, which can be found in a subset of patients with HES, particularly in those responding to treatment with imatinib mesylate. Here, we sum up recent knowledge of clinical features, pathophysiology and novel treatment aspects of HES by performing a comprehensive search of the available literature and report on 94 patients. We particularly address the issue of organ involvement and specific characteristics of the variable clinical pictures. In addition, two cases will be presented, which illustrate typical clinical scenarios and treatment outcome.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

On the regenerative capacity of human skeletal muscle.

The proliferative capacity of organotypic muscle stem cells, the satellite cells, from nine healthy human donors aged between 2 and 78 years was investigated. There was a loss in proliferative capacity with age, but the oldest donors (76, 78 years) would still be able to replace their musculature several times. Depending on frequency of desmin-positive (i.e., myogenic) cells during prolonged expansion, myoblast cultures could be designated as stable or unstable. There was a weak correlation between mean telomere lengths (estimated by flow-FISH) and remaining mean population doublings until senescence. A bimodal distribution of mean telomere lengths was apparent in both stable and unstable myoblast cultures and could be assigned to populations of differently sized cells. Furthermore, due to the presence of nonmyogenic cells with longer telomeres, unstable cultures tended to show an increasing rather than decreasing mean telomeric length on expansion. Bimodal distributions in myoblast cultures could be due to hitherto undefined myoblast populations.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Telomere dynamics in hematopoietic stem cells.

The hematopoietic system has an outstanding regenerative capacity which depends on a relatively small population of hematopoietic stem cells (HSC). In contrast to normal human cells, blood-forming stem cells, like most of their counterparts from other adult tissues, exhibit telomerase activity to a certain level. Nevertheless, this telomerase activity does not prevent telomere shortening in HSC, suggesting a restriction of their proliferative capacity. Here, we review recent studies on telomere dynamics in HSC of humans and mice. Furthermore, we discuss the impact of telomere manipulation in HSC for possible clinical applications and speculate on functions of telomerase beyond telomere lengthening.

Animals↗

PubMed2005

The level of telomere dysfunction determines the efficacy of telomerase-based therapeutics in a lung cancer cell line.

Telomerase is the ribonucleoprotein enzyme that maintains telomeres of eukaryotic chromosomes. Activation of telomerase is a common feature of the majority of human cancers, and inhibition of this enzyme has been proposed as a novel target for cancer therapeutics. Here, we investigated the effects of telomerase inhibition in the non-small cell lung cancer cell line NCI-H460, using a genetic approach by ectopic expression of dominant-negative (DN)-hTERT. Five clones were selected in which telomerase activity was completely abolished. As a result, telomere erosion was observed leading to proliferation arrest after a lag period of 20-28 population doublings. Although overall telomere length was similar between the different clones as measured by quantitative fluorescence in situ hybridization (Q-FISH), striking differences were found in telomere length of individual chromosomes. In particular, lack of individual telomeres and formation of end-to-end fusions were variable. Interestingly, this level of individual telomere dysfunction was positively correlated with the remaining life span of the different clones in vitro. In addition, the amount of telomere dysfunction induced by DN-hTERT was twice as high compared to the small molecule telomerase inhibitor BIBR1532, which induced growth arrest after >100 population doublings. Thus, pharmacological strategies that aim at inhibition of telomerase in cancer cells should take into account that not only overall telomere shortening, but rapid induction of a high level telomere dysfunction appears to be the crucial surrogate parameter for the development of future telomerase-based therapeutics.

Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung↗

PubMed2004

Selective cytotoxicity and telomere damage in leukemia cells using the telomerase inhibitor BIBR1532.

Telomerase represents an attractive target for a mechanism-based therapeutic approach because its activation has been associated with unlimited proliferation in most cancer cells. Recently, a nonnucleosidic small molecule inhibitor, BIBR1532 (2-[(E)-3-naphtalen-2-yl-but-2-enoylamino]-benzoic acid), has been identified that is highly selective for inhibition of telomerase, resulting in delayed growth arrest of tumor cells. Here we examined the effects of BIBR1532 in different leukemia cell lines as well as in primary cells from patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in short-term culture assays. We observed a dose-dependent direct cytotoxicity in concentrations ranging from 30 to 80 microM. Interestingly, cell death was not dependent on the catalytic activity of telomerase but was delayed in cells with very long telomeres. We observed time-dependent individual telomere erosion, which was associated with loss of telomeric repeat binding factor 2 (TRF2) and increased phosphorylation of p53. Importantly, the proliferative capacity of normal CD34(+) cells from cord blood and leukapheresis samples was not affected by treatment with BIBR1532. We conclude that using this class of telomerase inhibitor at higher concentrations exerts a direct cytotoxic effect on malignant cells of the hematopoietic system, which appears to derive from direct damage of the structure of individual telomeres and must be dissected from telomerase-suppressed overall telomere shortening.

Acute Disease↗

PubMed2004

Effects of telomerase modulation in human hematopoietic progenitor cells.

Loss of telomeric repeats has been causally linked to replicative senescence and aging in human cells. In contrast to normal somatic cells, which are telomerase-negative, hematopoietic stem cells have low levels of telomerase, which can be transiently upregulated upon cytokine stimulation. To examine whether ectopic expression of telomerase can overcome telomere erosion in hematopoietic progenitor cells, we overexpressed telomerase in CD34+ and AC133+ cord blood (CB) cells using retroviral vectors containing hTERT, the catalytic component of telomerase. Although the hTERT-transduced CB cells exhibited significantly elevated telomerase activity (approximately 10-fold), the mean telomere length was only increased up to 600 bp, which was in contrast to hTERT-transduced fibroblast cells gaining more than 2-kb telomeric repeats. Moreover, ectopic telomerase activity did not prevent overall telomere shortening, which was in the range of 1.3 kb in serum-free expansion culture. We also blocked endogenous telomerase activity by ectopic expression of dominant-negative hTERT. Whereas CB cells with absent telomerase activity showed reduced absolute numbers of colony-forming cells, we observed increased rates only for burst-forming units erythroid when the enzyme was overexpressed. These results suggest that telomere shortening in human hematopoietic progenitor cells cannot be compensated by increased levels of telomerase alone and is likely to be dependent on other factors, such as telomere binding proteins. Furthermore, telomerase function seems to be directly associated with the proliferative capacity of stem cells and may exert an additional role in lineage differentiation.

Antigens, CD34↗

PubMed2002

Telomere maintenance in human B lymphocytes.

Telomere shortening has been causally linked to replicative senescence in human cells. To characterize telomere-length heterogeneity in peripheral blood cells of normal individuals, we analysed the mean length of telomeric repeat sequences in subpopulations of peripheral blood leucocytes, using fluorescence in situ hybridization and flow cytometry (flow-FISH). Although the telomere length of most haematopoietic subsets was within the same range, the mean telomere length was found to be 15% higher in B compared with T lymphocytes in adult peripheral blood. Whereas telomere loss with ageing corresponded to 33 base pairs (bp) per year in T cells, telomere shortening was slower in B cells, corresponding to 15 bp per year. Separation of adult B-lymphocyte subpopulations based on CD27 expression revealed that telomere length was almost 2 kb longer in CD19+CD27+ (memory) compared with CD19+CD27- (naive) cells. Furthermore, peripheral blood B cells were activated in vitro. Whereas B-cell activation with Staphylococcus aureus Cowan strain (SAC) did not increase telomere length, a striking telomere elongation was observed when cells were stimulated with SAC and interleukin 2 to induce plasma cell differentiation. Our observations support the concept that telomere dynamics in B cells are distinct from other haematopoietic cell lineages and that telomere elongation may play an essential role in the generation of long-term B memory cells.

Adolescent↗